Willamette Ready to Host Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran

By Evan Giddings, Student Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- This weekend, the Willamette University men's tennis team will host University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University in two Northwest Conference contests. Match times are set for Friday, March 6 at 3:30 p.m. (PST) on Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m. Both matches will be held at the WU Tennis Courts.

In their previous match, Willamette fell to Lewis & Clark College 8-1, dropping the Bearcats to 0-2 on the season and 0-1 in the NWC.

Willamette earned its only win at #1 doubles, where Gunnar Lee (Jr., Hilo, HI/St. Joseph HS) and Jacob Blaisdell (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School) combined to outscore Morgan Joyce and Gordon Barrows, 8-4.

It was the second week in a row that the duo of Lee and Blaisdell have teamed up to garner a victory, and together they are now 2-0 in the spring season.

As for the rest of the doubles lineup last weekend, Sam Wexman (Jr., Tiburon, CA/Tamiscal HS) and Blake Brash (Jr., Boise, ID/Boise HS) played #2 and Jesse Mackinney (Fr., Arcata, CA/Northcoast Prep. & Performing Arts Acad.) and Samuel Rowe (Fr., Andover, MA/Andover HS) played #3.

In the singles competition, Wexman played #1 against L&C and he was followed by Schreiber, Lee, Brash, Blaisdell, and Derek Lund (Fr., Helena, MO/Capital HS).

Puget Sound is currently 0-4 on the season and 0-3 in NWC play, while Pacific Lutheran owns a 1-4 overall record, while has achieved a 1-3 conference record.

UPS last weekend had a singles lineup of Joe McRoberts (Fr.), Daniel Deuel (Jr.), Colton Wright (So.), Abe Noyes (Sr.), Andrew Struzenburg (Fr.), and Connor McDaniel (Fr.) in their 9-0 loss to George Fox University.

As for their doubles, McRoberts and Struzenburg teamed up to play #1, Deuel and Chris Severt (So.) played #2, and Wright and Chet Selis (Fr.) competed at #3.

The next day, when the Bearcats take on Pacific Lutheran they will likely see Sam Stadter (So.), as he played #1 singles in the Lutes' 9-0 loss to Pacific University last weekend.

Last season, Stadter led the team in singles victories with seven and was a Second Team All-NWC selection. He also maintained a 12-5 doubles record in his freshman year.

James Okubo (So.) played #2 over the weekend, followed by Noel Oteng-Mensah (Sr.) playing #3, Alberto Leal (Fr.) at #4, Jeremy Marsh ((Jr.) competing at #5, and Chris Erkkila (Sr.) finishing at #6.

The doubles teams for PLU against the Boxers featured Stadter and Okubo paired up at #1, Marsh and Oteng-Mensah at #2, while Erkkila and Leal competed at #3.